BoCC okays bids for graders, loader

Whitman County commissioners approved large equipment bids Feb. 20 for two road graders and a loader. Western States Equipment Co. of Boise was chosen at a price of $494,626 for two graders, with two trade-in graders from the county.

For the loader, Papé Machinery of Spokane bid $221,007 as the low number, approved by commissioners to sell the county a new John Deere loader. They will take the old one from the county as a trade-in.

The bids were opened after a crowd filed into seats at the commissioners’ chambers – representatives of the bidding companies which brought their envelopes in by ha...